He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” Luke 22:19–20 NKJV
The institution of the Lord’s Supper is like a beautiful jewel against a black background, precious to the hearts of those who love the Lord at a time when He has been cast out by Israel and the world.
The bread which the Lord Jesus breaks symbolizes His body given for us, and it strikingly illustrates His suffering and death. A grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies. After growing up, it is cut down, then threshed, ground into flour, and exposed to the heat of the fire to provide food for men. Of the depths and anguish of His sufferings we can understand virtually nothing, yet the remembrance of this and of His death is of deepest importance in the breaking of bread. Tenderly He asks that we observe this for a remembrance of Himself.
The cup speaks of His blood shed, the sign of an accomplished sacrifice, for wine is significant of joy, which is the precious result of the work of Christ in redemption. It is “the cup of blessing which we bless” (1 Cor. 10:16), although it is also the result of suffering and death, for grapes are crushed to produce the wine. Indeed, unspeakable joy is the result of the unutterable sufferings of our blessed Lord. It is, therefore, “with joy and sorrow mingling” that we remember Him.
The Lord gives no precise order and no stipulated regulations in regard to this precious observance. When hearts are reverently subject to Him and filled with adoration for His blessed name, there may be fullest confidence that the Spirit of God will lead them in His own wise and orderly way to give supreme honor to the blessed Son of God.